Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Social Clas and the Hidden Curriculum of Work-Anyon

In reading this article I noticed several things were different between middle class schools and working class schools. Middle class schools teach based on process while working class schools teach based on getting the correct answers. In working class schools "teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance...Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps". I do not think is necessarily a bad way to teach because on a test if they got the answer wrong but understood the steps they wouldn't be down graded as much. However, I do not agree with having them memorize the steps because they are not learning anything and will not remember it later on it life and they definitely will not understand it. Another thing that irritated me is when Anyon explains that after kids still did not understand how to solve a specific problem the teacher "made no attempt to explain the concept of dividing things into groups or to give them manipulations for their own investigation. Rather she went over the steps with them again and told them they 'needed more practice"'. I do not think this is the proper way to teach and everyone should be taught like the middle class.
      The middle class teaches based on the right answer and how you got that answer. Here, instead of just giving them steps teaches explain how to solve problems and when children get the wrong answers they do not degrade them and say you need more practice but instead ask how and why they got the answer they got. This will help children understand better and remember these facts for the future.
   I feel like I can relate to both of these classes because some classes I have taken are middle class and others were like working class. My biology class in college was like that of a working class because we only had to simply memorize facts and not necessarily know how they worked or how to do them. For that class I simply just memorized facts and when I was done needing them it was as if they left my brain and got ready for more facts to memorize. However, my math class is like the middle class because it explains how things are done and why they are done that way. I feel like every class should be taught that way.

1 comment:

  1. My classes were just like this. I had some where teachers really focused on teaching the process of how things worked. Then I had other classes who would just throw all facts at you and then test you on it. I think that it is better to teach the process then test on it rather than just give facts out. It is better to spend the time on teaching so that the students remember what they were taught and it sticks up in their brain.

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